July 2 – Critique Session. Please bring ten (l0) lyric sheets along with your tape.
July l0 – OPEN FORUM
Your chance to talk, complain. suggest and compliment (we hope).
The board is hoping this meeting will give all members the opportunity to voice their opinions and expectations of the co-op.
You will be receiving a questionnaire in the mail that addresses various topics and items of general interest. The meeting will not be limited to these topics; we compiled the list of questions to stimulate thoughts and ideas for ways to make this organization work better for all of us.
If you have missed several meetings and are looking for the right opportunity to make the move back to the co-op. this is it. if you regularly attend and want the chance to let us know what will keep you coming week after week, this is it. Please plan to attend this important membership meeting.
August 6 — "Demo-making Demonstration"
Larry Standitord, Charlie Walls, and Gary "Doc" Dockery will be demonstrating how to make demos on a 4-track system. Bring a blank cassette and give it try!
August 20 – Critique session. Please bring ten (1O) lyric sheets along with your tape.
Our June 4 membership meeting was quite an eye-opener. Member Bill Malz did an excellent job turning the tables in his presentation, "You Be the Publisher.' To set the scene, Bill gave us a good idea of just what a day in the life of a publisher might be like. To mention a few, a publisher's responsibilities include: placing songs with artists; acquiring new contacts while keeping current contacts "hot"; generating revenue; fulfilling the role of creative advisor; and leaving himself available to his staff songwriters and sales persons.
Bill explained that in whatever time is left over in a publisher's day, he or she will then make an attempt to listen to solicited tapes. (Very few publishers will listen to unsolicited tapes.)
Stressing once more to consider what a publisher goes through day in and day out. Bill handed out score sheets with a list of over twenty-five song titles and ten assessment categories. it was time for the membership to "be the publisher."
Tired from just thinking about "a day in the life," the membership listened to the beginning of each tune (ranging from 10 to 45 seconds) and made an evaluation based on the assessment sheet.
We heard tunes that sounded like they were recorded at a truck stop, songs with bad, muted. or non-existent vocals, others with long intros, poor musical accompaniment, and one that showcased the performer tuning his guitar at the start of the demo. There were also demos that hissed so badly we could not understand them, one that began with an apology that the singer could not sing very well, but the most surprising tape of all was the one that was blank!
We soon found out how hard it is to listen to a "bad demo." When th eclear demos with short intros and good vocals played, it was genuinely a relief.
We have all probably been guilty of submitting a bad tape early in our songwriting careers. This exercise was an excellent way for each of us to see just why we never heard back from anyone who received such a tape from us.
Bill's presentation was a good reminder that each of us must objectively critique our own demos and learn to recognize when we have a quality, professional sounding, "pitchable" product.
June's critique session was held on the 18th. The co-op had a great turnout for this meeting: a lot of familiar faces returned after having been busy with other projects recently. Those members with tunes critiqued were: Scott Furlong, Karen Le Van, Charles Puckett (by mail). Doc Dockery, Rob Williams and Charlie Walls.